Friday 13 July 2007- Day Forty Two

I think common courtesy has gone from uncommon to non-existent. Today I found out that some of our research contacts had been trying to reach us on the group phone (shared among three people- me, my research partner and someone else) and the messages were never passed to my research partner or I. I wonder how many meeting and contacts we missed because of this. It’s really childish and totally sabotages our research. Then one of the GS heads told us yesterday that they would pay for the printing costs of the flyer and brochure (R25 for the flyer and R55 for the brochure- less than $12 total). This morning the same person snapped at us that this is the kind of stuff architects usually pay for on their own and then practically shut the door in our faces. This is fine, we can easily pick up the tab, but there are two objections. The first is that you said you would pay for it. The second is much more complex…

The Alexandra in the Park idea is completely New School student organized. We have made all the arrangement, we have aligned all the sponsors, we have contacted the artists, and the attendees are our contacts. We took the idea to the GS because none of the other projects are viable (meaning are actually going to come to fruition in a physical manifestation) and no one else had been planning an event. Perhaps we are planning this because we have been marginalized to such an extent that we are basically event planners (not that I’m not behind this event one hundred percent). Without this idea, the GS would have nothing to use as publicity let alone have an event in the community (the point of the GS). So, without the New School students there would be no outcome of the GS. If the GS is not willing to fund us, that is fine but we should remove their name from everything.